The Mystical Mind

by Eugene d'Aquili M.D., Ph.D, Andrew B. Newberg M.D.

Overview

How does the mind experience the sacred? What biological mechanisms are involved in mystical states and trances? Is there a neurological basis for patterns in comparative religions? Does religion have an evolutionary function? This pathbreaking work by two leading medical researchers explores the neurophysiology of religious experience. Building on an explanation of the basic structure of the brain, the authors focus on parts most relevant to human experience, emotion, and cognition. On this basis, they plot how the brain is involved in mystical experiences. Successive chapters apply this scheme to mythmaking, ritual and liturgy, meditation, near-death experiences, and theology itself. Anchored in such research, the authors also sketch the implications of their work for philosophy, science, theology, and the future of religion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800631635
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	08/30/1999
Series:	Theology and the Sciences
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

The late Eugene d'Aquili, M.D., Ph.D., was, until his recent death, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. A pioneer in neurological research of religion, he published in the area for twenty-five years.

Andrew B. Newberg, M.D., is a Researcher in Nuclear Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 — The Brain and Central Nervous System

Chapter 2 — The Basis for the Mystical Mind

Chapter 3 — Why the Mind Creates Myth

Chapter 4 — Ritual, Liturgy, and the Mind

Chapter 5 — The Mind, Meditation, and Mysticism

Chapter 6 — The Near-Death Experience as Mystical Phenomenon

Chapter 7 — The Origin of Religion

Chapter 8 — Neurotheology

Chapter 9 — Consciousness and Reality

Chapter 10 — Consciousness and Reality

Chapter 11 — Metatheology and Megatheology

Epilogue